CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – On Thursday, May 23, the TSSAA held their 2023-24 state tournament for boys’ tennis singles and doubles, where a trio of student athletes representing the Clarksville area participated in.
For Kirkwood High School, Kelton Cantrell made his way to Murfreesboro for the Cobras following a season where he went undefeated in both singles and doubles. In actuality, Cantrell did not give up a set for the entire season and postseason before the state tournament, according to Kirkwood head coach Robert Foy.
“I couldn’t be more proud of Kelton,” Foy told Clarksville Now. “He puts in so much hard work throughout the year, really day-to-day… To go through districts and regionals to make it to the state tournament without dropping a set and going undefeated the whole season, I’m just extremely proud of him. It’s been amazing to see what he’s been able to accomplish in a short amount of time, he’s only been playing tennis for three years.”
During the opening round of the state tournament, in Division-I class AA, Cantrell was scheduled to play Matteo Lecito, who is a foreign exchange student out of Marshall County High School, and it’s safe to say, the junior held his own. However, in the end, Cantrell lost the match by a score of 2-6, 4-6.
When asked what his message to Cantrell following the loss, Roy said if the junior keeps improving the way he has, he could very well be the top player in the state during his senior season.
Rossview doubles
Meanwhile, Rossview High had a pair of student-athletes representing their school in Trevor Cherry and Cade Deterding.
The doubles team battled to secure a third-set victory over Lexington High School to capture the region title on May 15, according to previous reports. The victory not only marked a region championship, but it also punched their ticket to the Division-I class AA state doubles tournament.
On Thursday, Cherry and Deterding faced off against Daniel Haddadin and Shreeyan Papireddy from Science Hill, where they were defeated 1-6, 0-6.
Clarksville Now has reached out to Rossview tennis coach Jacob Freeze for comment.